This invention relates to an injection site, and more particularly, to a needle-penetrable self-sealing device for the administration of injected fluids into a flow line.
It is often desirable to inject supplemental medicament into a needle-penetrable flow line. When the needle is inserted and withdrawn from the line, however, leakage often occurs. Such leakage is undesirable and may be detrimental to the patient's health.
In an effort to solve this problem, injection sites such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,570 and 2,832,338, have been connected to the flow line. When these flow lines have been stored and compressed for long periods of time, however, creep and set (bending and twisting) occur about the injection site, causing line leakage. Furthermore, the injection site described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,570 requires the injection site to be heat-sealed, sonic welded or adhesively bonded to the flow line, causing further assembly time and expense. The injection site described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,338 requires the flow line to be severed and physically separated for installation purposes.
It is therefore an object of this invention to avoid creep and set about an injection site.
Another object of this invention is to provide a self-clamping needle-penetrable tube sealer which prevents line leakage.
A further object of this invention is to provide a portable self-sealing injection site which can be clamped onto the tubing anywhere along the line.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a disposable injection site of simple design and construction, which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, dependable in operation, readily installed and capable of performing properly without line leakage after long periods of use.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.